— Park City, UT

Tell It to the Judge: A three judge appeals panel heard arguments yesterday by the Justice Department and the State of Washington over the stay on President Trump’s travel and immigration ban. From the judge’s questions, it would be hard to predict which way they are likely to go, although one judge asked whether the order could be discriminatory against Muslims if it affects only 15 percent of the world’s Muslims. Lawyers for both sides took a beating, but Justice Department lawyer August Flentje at times was left sputtering.

The arguments were technical, but as law professor Alan Dershowitz pointed out, the key may be in the first line of the State of Washington’s brief: “On January 27, President Trump unleashed chaos by signing the Executive Order at issue here.”  Dershowitz said it would be unlikely for any court to vacate the stay on the travel ban, and unleash the chaos once again.

Trump told reporters yesterday that he hopes the case doesn’t go all the way to the Supreme Court because his travel ban makes common sense. “It’s common sense. You know some things are law, and I’m all in favor of that. And some things are common sense. This is common sense,” Trump said.

A decision is expected sometime this week.

Advice and Consent: Vice President Mike Pence cast an historic tie-breaking vote to confirm the much-debated Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. With the Senate vote at 50-50, Pence became the first vice president ever to break the tie on a cabinet appointment. Two Republicans voted against DeVos.

DeVos is a rich political donor with no professional experience in education. She is an advocate of school vouchers, charter schools, and using public money for religiously-based private education.

DeVos married into the Amway soap sales fortune. If you wonder why none of the Republicans bullied and insulted by Trump voted against DeVos, Marco Rubio accepted nearly $100,000 in donations from DeVos and her family, and  John McCain took $50,000.

Rebuke: Senate Republicans voted yesterday to rebuke Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren after she spoke against the confirmation of Sen. Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Warren had read from statements by Coretta Scott King and Sen. Edward Kennedy back when Sessions was accused of being too racist to be a federal judge. Sen. Mitch McConnell said of Warren, “The senator has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from Alabama.”

Permawar: Yemen has told the US that it may no longer conduct special operations raids in the country after civilians were killed in last month’s attack on what was described as an al Qaeda base. It’s a setback to the Trump administration, which has promised a more aggressive pursuit of terrorists.

Pipeline: The Army yesterday approved completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline that was the target of massive protests last year. The route of the pipe takes it under the Missouri River just a mile from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. They say they plan to keep fighting it.

Brand Value: First Lady Melania Trump filed a new libel suit against The Daily Mail for its story claiming she once worked as a professional escort.

The interesting thing about Mrs. Trump’s complaint is that she’s saying that the damage to her reputation diminishes her ability to cash in on being First Lady. The filing says, Mrs. Trump’s “brand has lost significant value.” It goes on to say that Mrs. Trump had the “opportunity… to launch a broad-based commercial brand in multiple product categories, each of which could have garnered multi-million dollar business relationships for a multi-year term during which [she] is one of the most photographed women in the world.”

A spokesman later said Mrs. Trump had no plans to make money from her position, even though that’s what her lawyers said.

Mrs. Trump settled her lawsuit yesterday with Maryland blogger Webster Tarpley for what’s described as “a substantial sum” and an apology.

Facts Die in Record Numbers: In a meeting with county sheriffs yesterday, President Trump repeated his false claim that the national murder rate has risen dramatically. “The murder rate in our country is the highest it’s been in 47 years, right?” the president said. “Did you know that? Forty-seven years. I used to use that — I’d say that in a speech and everybody was surprised. Because the press doesn’t tell it like it is. It wasn’t to their advantage to say that.”

Well, they don’t say that because it’s not true. The worst years for murder in recent history were 1980 and 1991.

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